Many computing devices utilize a software interface between an operating system (OS) executing on the computing device and the platform firmware of the computing device. One example of such a software interface is the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), which is defined by the UEFI Specification version 2.3, published May 8, 2009. The interface defined by the UEFI specification includes data tables that contain platform information, and boot and runtime services, which are available to the operating system loader and the operating system. The UEFI defines boot services, which include text and graphical console support on various devices, bus, block and file services, and runtime services, such as date, time and NVRAM services. The UEFI environment is established prior to the loading of the operating system.
The UEFI specification currently supports wired communications during a pre-boot phase (i.e., prior to the booting of the operating system) of a computing device. However, although the UEFI specification supports the general framework for establishing device drivers for wireless adapters, the UEFI specification currently lacks the comprehensive wireless communication stack to support many of the current wireless technologies. As such, the availability of wireless communication during the pre-boot phase of a computing device is limited.